Monday, November 28, 2011

erl poetry competition winners announced

It was terrific to be part of the awards presentation for this years Eastern Regional Libraries National Poetry competition.Here I am pictured with local winner Donald and competition judge, Alicia Sometimes.Each year the Library corporation alternates between a storywriting competition and a poetry competition. This year was poetry's turn and the competition was fierce.

Competition judge, Alicia Sometimes, was impressed by the depth and scope of entries.

green wedge - council wants extension from minister to consider changes to the ugb

report from the roundtable – 22 NovAt this week’s council meeting council had to consider whether to ask the Minister for Planning, Matthew Guy, for an extension to allow council more time to decide whether we wish to pursue any changes to the Urban Growth Boundary.

It was clearly a contentious issue amongst councillors with the final vote being deadlocked at 4/4, requiring the Mayor to use his casting vote to determine the decision.

Cr Warren moved the motion to support the request to the Minister for an extension of time to February, 2012 (seconded by Cr Templer).

I could not support the motion and foreshadowed an alternate motion to advise the Minister that council supports the current location of the Urban Growth Boundary. In speaking against the motion I talked about a range of reasons why Yarra Ranges should just say no now.

We know there is enough supply of industrial land in Yarra Ranges for the next 20 years, we know there is enough supply of land for dwellings to see us beyond 2031. I have concerns that we’d consider changing the urban growth boundary when the shire only has mass transit to two centres, Belgrave and Lilydale.

There is a long held strategic view going back to amalgamation of the 4 councils that make up Yarra Ranges, we were a ‘supershire’, but protected as part of Hamer’s vision to protect Green Wedge, not only for locals but for Melburnians too.

We have clear policy in place, policies that have been tested on countless occasions with our community. The long standing Regional Strategy Plan, the more recently endorsed Green Wedge Management Plan (adopted July, 2010), the near completed Housing Strategy(adopted May, 2009) all reinforce the importance of maintaining the hard line of the Urban Growth Boundary.

Our community’s aspirational document Vision 2020 also talks about the importance of maintaining the Urban Growth Boundary to maintain the protection and preservation of the Shire’s high value rural landscapes and amenity. This aspiration most recently reaffirmed in 2009.

Council shouldn’t be considering changes to policy because of the whim of a Minister. It was my view that we should stop wasting ratepayers money on this issue, we don’t need consultants to tell us what we already know, we shouldn’t be asking for an extension, we should just be saying no.

We do need to contain the Urban Growth Boundary to discourage developer speculation in the green wedge areas of the Shire. We need to prevent encroachment and fragmentation of our green wedge areas and retain future options for long term agricultural needs. We also need to retain our rural landscape character, it’s what defines Yarra Ranges, not only in terms of primary production but we have an enormous tourism sector because of our green wedge areas, it’s what makes us unique.

As a council we should stop wasting council resources on this issue. We shouldn’t be pursuing it, there is no strategic, logical reason to do so. And with that I foreshadowed an alternate motion to advise the Minister that we did not support any changes to the Urban Growth Boundary.

Councillors against the time extension request:Crs Dunn, Cox, Cliff and McRae

AbsentCr Heenan

As the votes were tied 4 for and 4 against the Mayor had to use his ‘casting’ vote and determined that council should proceed to support the time extension request. This is counter to the usual custom and practice of the casting vote which is to support the status quo.

samantha in the media - renewables

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

we were inspired

It was wonderful to be part of the Women in Leadership event at Swinburne tonight. Be Inspired - an evening of inspiration, admiration and celebration was a collaboration between the Shire of Yarra Ranges and Swinburne University of Technology.Pictured left to right:Sue Kokonis - Acting Deputy Dean, Swinburne, our host for the night, Fiona Bilton - Yarra Ranges Young Citizen of the Year, Cr Samantha Dunn - Lyster Ward Councillor Shire of Yarra Ranges, Jacqueline Pascarl, Suyin Chan - one of the founders of Koha Community Cafe and Kiara Warwick - recipient of the Yarra Ranges Women in Leadership Scholarship.

Participants were treated to keynote speaker, Jacqueline Pascarl, who talked about her experience of having her two children abducted and how she channelled her grief by working as an aid worker in war torn countries. In 1997 Jacqueline founded Operation Angel, a rapid response humanitarian agency targeting relief effors during times of natural disaster or emergency.

After Jacqueline spoke she joined myself, Fiona Bilton and Suyin Chan on a panel and participants had the opportunity to ask a full range of questions. It was a great night, with topics as diverse as domestic violence, how women lead and our advice for PM Julia Gillard.

It was also a good opportunity to highlight the wonderful partnership Yarra Ranges has with Swinburne through the Shire's Women in Leadership Scholarship. The scholarship is granted to a student who demonstrates strong leadership qualities and commitment to community engagement. Last year's recipient, Kiara Warwick, spoke to us about how the $1,000 scholarship has assisted her studies this year. It was terrific to hear how well she is doing at Swinburne.

The shire is proud to support the Women in Leadership event as part of our commitment to the Women's Charter, I was endorsed a 'Charter Champion' in July 2010 and enjoy being able to encourage women in the community to reach their full potential.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

calling victorian film makers

Calling Victorian Film Makers, entries are open for THREE ONE SIX OH film festival no7.

In it's seventh year and third name change (once called the Blue Dandenongs Young Filmmakers Festival - yes a bit of a mouthful, then Hillside Film Festival) THREE ONE SIX OH! is a great opportunity to submit your short film and hopefully have it selected for the festival screening at the the fabulous Cameo Outdoor Cinema.

Entries must be:~ only from Victorian entrants~ duration under 15 minutesYou can submit film, video, documentaries, fiction, sports, moving art or animation. If you'd like to know more click here.

Past festivals have seen a great mix of eclectic films, dramatic pieces, comedy, music videos, you name it, it's probably been part of past festivals. I'm very proud to be able to support THREE ONE SIX OH!, in it's seventh year Yarra Ranges Council has been a major sponsor every year.

Don't delay, this is a great opportunity for budding Victorian film makers, but there's deadlines, you must submit your work by 25 Nov, 2011.

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

be inspired - celebrating women

Be inspired at an evening celebrating women in our community on Wednesday 16 November at Swinburne University.Be Inspired is a free event, organised by Yarra Ranges council and Swinburne University and will feature guest speaker Jacqueline Pascarl (nee Gillespie) – Australian author, TV personality, parents’ rights advocate and humanitarian aid worker.

Jacqueline will share her journey since her former husband, a Malaysian prince, abducted her children in 1992.

Jacqueline will be joined by a panel of inspiring local women including 2010 Young Citizen of the Year Award recipient Fiona Bilton, Koha Community Café Coordinator Suyin Chan and myself as the Yarra Ranges Women's Charter Champion.

Fiona has a great passion to help children and young people who have a parent with a mental illness. She works tirelessly to create greater awareness of mental health issues for young people, parents and families.

Suyin is one of the driving forces behind the very succesful Koha Community Cafe. Koha is a not-for-profit social enterprise. The basic principle is that anyone can have a healthy vegetarian meal and pay what they think the meal is worth or what they can afford.

The panellists will share their own experiences and advice on overcoming challenges to achieve your goals.

Be Inspired is at Swinburne University on Wednesday 16 November from 5.30pm.

About Me

It's a great honour and privilege to serve the people of the Lyster Ward. I was voted onto council in 2005 and have been re-elected twice since with a Greens record 58.93% primary vote in 2012. I'm passionate about the community and I enjoy working with them to shape an even better future. This term on council I will be representing the various township groups in Lyster, Belgrave Hub Project Steering Committee Birdsland Advisory Committee, Burrinja, Eastern Regional Libraries Corp, Eastern Transport Coalition, Fire Management Committee, Graffiti Working Group and the Municipal Emergency Management Committee. In 2009 I was elected as Chairperson of the Eastern Transport Coalition and continue to serve in that role. In 2011 I was elected President of the Victorian Local Governance Association after serving two years as Treasurer. In Dec 2013 I stood down as President as I was preselected to run for the Greens in Eastern Metropolitan in the 2014 state election. IMAGES FROM THIS BLOGSITE MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED OR REPUBLISHED WITHOUT PERMISSION, if you wish to use an image just ask by emailing samantha.dunn@vic.greens.org.au. ANONYMOUS AND/OR OFFENSIVE COMMENTS WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED.